I caught the Athens TN, 5th Saturday fly in breakfast over the weekend and this bad boy was on the ramp! I had no idea that these big birds were re-purposed for firefighting. The Columbia crew gave us in impromptu tour and even let us sit in the cockpit. It has a 2800 gal internal tank that it can fill from a drop tube in about 4 minutes. They contract with the forest service and are in the area for the fires near Ocoee filling from Parksville lake. Impressive to say the least!

Those things are awesome, a lot better in my opinion than the single engine air tankers some states use. Not to knock the SEATS, but the chopper can drop more retardant/water than a SEAT can and I find they can do it accurately. Just my 2 cents, I worked a few fires with the state of Arkansas, and now I'm in private forestry, it was always an awesome sight watching them drop. Get downwind of one with a full load of retardant (red stuff) and you might look like a cherry though!!!